Tag Archives: youth

Students of the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) met with UNIC Canberra Director Christopher Woodthorpe to discuss the SDGs.

The students were enrolled in a range of diverse studies at the university, such as marine biology research, linking science and traditional knowledge for communities to promote conservation efforts, and advocacy for diversity and social justice in communities.

Canberra has a great cafe that is preparing students with disabilities for life after school it is called Black Mountain School’s ‘Six Degrees’ cafe. We were lucky enough to buy a coffee. Thanks to everyone at the Cafe, teachers and students alike, including Hayden for allowing us to film and photograph you all working so hard.

Canberra has a great cafe that is preparing students with disabilities for life after school it is called Black Mountain School’s ‘Six Degrees’ cafe. We worked with the students and the school
to tell the story of a programme that believes in equal opportunity for all.

To learn about the UN’s Support for People With Disabilities please to to the website of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This story is also part of our video series on “Locals Implementing the SDGS”

High School Students from across Australia took part in a Plan for the Planet programme at the Australian National University in Canberra.

We took our camera along and worked with the students to make this short video. The students spoke about which Sustainable Development Goal was important to them and why – they also had fun filming and interviewing each other in the process.

Wednesday 26 July, Canberra. UNIC Canberra had the privilege of organising the official launch of the joint UNIC/CIT Photography competition, a program which is also supported by CIT, the CSIRO, the National Gallery of Australia and the Guardian Australia Newspaper.

This is the eighth year of the Competition and we were pleased to see the contenders’ enthusiasm only growing as the years go on.

This year’s theme is the Together Campaign, a global initiative that aims to change negative perceptions and attitudes towards refugees and migrants, and to strengthen the social bond between host countries and communities, and refugees and migrants. It encourages refugees and migrants, and the communities that have benefited from their inclusion to share their stories, and to use their voices to make the world a better place.

How are people’s lives linked to the Sustainable Development Goals? This film tells the stories of three families in the Coastal, Highlands and Central regions of Papua New Guinea. It documents the challenges they face in their daily lives, how they are over coming these and their aspirations for the future.

Mr. Yett, is the new accredited Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund to the Pacific island countries of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Mr. Yett presented his credentials this morning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Ravindran Nair. In the coming months, Mr. Yett will be travelling to other countries in the Pacific region to present his credentials and meet staff and partners.

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert ColvilleLocation: Geneva

Australia

We are shocked by the video footage that has emerged from Don Dale youth detention centre in the Northern Territory in Australia, showing children as young as 10, many of whom are Aboriginal children, being held in inhumane conditions and treated cruelly. Some children were held in isolation for extended periods, sometimes for several weeks, in hot and dark cells with no access to fresh air or running water. In one incident, six children were tear-gassed by prison guards. The videos, from 2014, show another child hooded and strapped to a chair for several hours. Others are shown being repeatedly assaulted and stripped naked. According to the children’s testimony, these abuses took place over several years. Most of the children who were held at the detention facility are deeply traumatized. The treatment these children have been subjected to could amount to a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, to which Australia is a party.

Article 37 of the CRC stipulates that “every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age.”

The announcement by the Government of an investigation into youth detention in the Northern Territory is an important step. We encourage the Government to extend the scope of the investigation beyond the Northern Territory in order to establish that such appalling treatment is not taking place in any other place of detention in Australia. We call on the authorities to identify those who committed abuses against the children and to hold them responsible for such acts. The children who were abused at Don Dale should receive psychosocial rehabilitation to overcome the trauma they have suffered. Compensation should also be provided.

We also call on Australia to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This important instrument focuses on the prevention of torture. Under the Protocol, Australia would establish a National Preventive Mechanism which conducts regular visits to all places of detention in the country. Events at Don Dale clearly show the immediate need to establish such a system of regular visits to ensure that what happened at Don Dale never happens again in Australia.